What you need to know
- Microsoft gave more details on its forthcoming game streaming service codenamed Project xCloud.
- Project xCloud will be part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price tier.
- Project xCloud will begin rolling out to select countries in September 2020.
- A list of supported countries has not yet been detailed.
Today via Xbox Wire, Microsoft finally unveiled more details about the pricing for Project xCloud, Xbox's big game streaming service.
In the blog post, Microsoft reiterated its commitments to backward compatibility, cross-gen accessories, games that scale across different hardware types, with the central message of putting the customer at the center of what it does. To round it off, Microsoft unveiled that Project xCloud will be part of Xbox Game Pass' Ultimate price tier, and will begin rolling out to select countries in September 2020.
We don't yet know which countries specifically will be part of the initial wave, but we expect it will at least be the U.S., the UK, and possibly South Korea, as some of the first countries able to test xCloud. There's a good chance it could simply roll out to every current xCloud testing bracket, depending on how broadly Microsoft has managed to spread its servers out across its big data centers.
Today we're announcing that this September, in supported countries, we're bringing Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud together at no additional cost for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. With cloud gaming in Game Pass Ultimate, you will be able to play over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles on your phone or tablet. And because Xbox Live connects all across devices, you can play along with the nearly 100 million Xbox Live players around the world. So when Halo Infinite launches, you and your friends can play together and immerse yourselves in the Halo universe as Master Chief—anywhere you go and across devices.Cloud gaming in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate means your games are no longer locked to the living room. And just like you do with the popular movie and music streaming services, when cloud gaming launches into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can continue your game wherever you left off on any of your devices.
Project xCloud is an important pillar in Microsoft's broader long-term strategy for its gaming division, as the console industry as a whole hasn't seen significant additional growth when compared to PC gaming and mobile platforms.
Project xCloud and similar streaming services may be able to bring console-quality games to low-powered PCs, smart TVs, and smartphones, growing the market far more rapidly than consoles and gaming-grade PCs can do by themselves. Microsoft is competing against Tencent, Google, and other tech companies to bring this tech to the masses, and Microsoft, armed with the best Xbox One games and the best Xbox Game Pass games it has, is certainly well placed to get out there ahead of the pack.
Take your gaming on the road
Xbox Game Pass is practically the "Netflix of gaming," and like Netflix, soon you will be able to play those games on your mobile device as well. Pretty awesome, ey?
